This week, I will be evaluating another one of my favorite sites, Breaking News English. This site provides "Ready to use EFL/ESL lesson plans and pod casts" targeted mainly for adult learners of English. The lesson plans deal with current events in the form of newspaper articles which are updated a couple times a week. The purpose is for students to improve their English by 1) reading and or listening to the articles and 2) completing several activities that focus on different learning objectives.
The newspaper articles are the main external documents on this site. What is great about these articles is the author, Sean Banville, makes then available in several formats. You can print them out either as a Word document or a PDF file. You can save them as mp3 audio files and listen to them on your computer or mp3 player. Or, you can download them as Pod casts and have them automatically updated on you computer or mp3 player. By providing these different options to access the information, it gives the learner the ability to practice both reading and listening. The activities that follow the article focus on listening comprehension and speaking. So, there are four language goals that are met right there. That's fantastic.
By clicking on the About link at the top of the page, you can get to know more about Mr. Banville. Here, you can also contact him and give him feedback about the site. All the lesson plans are free if used for educational purposes. But, you are also given the option to leave a donation if you feel so inclined.
Like the other sites I have evaluated (The Bat Cave and Boggle's World), this site provides top notch material. But, this site is organized much better and therefore easier to use. If you look at the initial page, the design is clean and simple. These qualities are important when making a web site. The content is stored in a well categorized table with nice appropriate headings that make it easy to find what you are looking for.
How can this site be improved? Well, this is usually my favorite part of the evaluation. But, because of the simple, clean layout, which I love, I don't have much to say this time. The one thing I think he should look at is the audio files. When you click on one of these, it opens up a new browser. I don't like this. The audio player should come up in the same browser so that you can listen while following along with the text.
But, other than that, I think the site is great. It's easy to navigate, provides many ways to download the articles, and covers many language goals. Also, the content is updated often, so you can use it at least a couple times a week. If you are teaching an adult class, I would suggest taking a look at Breaking News English. I think you will also find it easy to use and I think your students will like it too.
Please let me know what you think about this site. Thank you!
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4 comments:
John -- I find your various analyses to be very thorough and comprehensive.....thereby being worthwhile. It's obvious that you put a lot of thought into them. Keep up the good work. Dad
John,
I thought that it was great to see your dad's comments. My dad has never used the internet! Anyway, I liked the website Breaking News and I think it's incredibly useful to have available to teacher's but I did see that there is a charge for the usage which I understand but that could be tricky. I like the addition of the Podcasts to the lesson plans.
A couple of days ago I tried the Bat Cave but I did have a hard time manuevering the page which I am sure is inexperienced me. I did manage to download the Karaoke but I am sure how to use it. It must have taken them years to build the site it just seems very busy with many, many things to look at.
Victoria
Hi Victoria, the site is free to use, as long as you use it for educational purposes. The author says "... to print out and duplicate these lessons to be used by your own students or for study purposes by students. The MP3 files may be downloaded and used for teaching purposes or for listening practice. Any other use requires written permission." So, you can make a donation if you want. But, you don't have to.
John,
Yes this is one of my favorite sites too. It is a little too advanced for my beginning level students but it was really good for my intermediate students. I have never used the audio or podcasts before but I love the lesson plans.
Stefanie
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